Cynthia McKinney opened the pre-march rally critiquing President Bush for his response to Hurricane Katrina and for the ongoing occupation of Iraq. [includes rush transcript]

Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA)

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMYGOODMAN: We turn now to Democratic Congress member, Cynthia McKinney from Georgia.

CYNTHIAMCKINNEY: A cruel wind blows across America, starting in Texas and Montana and sweeping across America’s heartland. It settled here in Washington, D.C. And despite our presence today, it continues to buffer, to buffet and batter the American people. This cruel wind blew disenfranchisement into Florida and Ohio. It blew hard-heartedness into the capital, division across our land and wretchedness in high places.

The American people have been forced to endure fraud in the elections of 2000 and 2004, criminal neglect on September 11th, a war started on deliberately faked evidence, the outing of a C.I.A. agent to cover up the truth, and now criminal incompetence in providing our security.

When hurricane survivors had lost everything, it was there for all America to see. Sybaritic men wrapped in self-righteousness worked to save their jobs instead of the people, as dead bodies lay strewn about the New Orleans Superdome. Military recruiters blew into to Houston’s Astrodome to reap the harvest.

This ill wind that engulfs our country is also global in its impact. It dipped into the Caribbean, hitting Haiti and Cuba. It reached into Latin America to slap Venezuela. It swept death, greed, and destruction across Africa into Eastern Congo, and it breeds occupation onto the peoples of Iraq and Palestine.

But just as sure as an ill wind now blows, it doesn’t have to be so. The people united can stop wars. We can stop injustice, and we can stop indifference. The people united can tear down the mightiest walls of oppression. These ill winds have brought us high crimes and more than misdemeanors. But they have also brought us together, one answer, united for peace and justice. Let’s stay together because we have to get rid of these ill winds and breathe fresh breath into a new jetstream of life.

AMYGOODMAN: Georgia Congress member Cynthia McKinney speaking at the major anti-war protest this weekend.